Weston Budget Is Familiar

WESTON — What will property owners get for their money if city officials next month approve the $94 million tax and spending plan proposed by City Manager John Flint?

They will get everything they have now, plus some, according to the colorful, easy-to-read, 83-page budget that the City Commission and residents will discuss in September.

While no major new expenses are proposed for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, residents would get enhanced services, including four more firefighter-rescue workers, five community service aides for Bonaventure's first Community Strategies Team, two additional Broward sheriff's deputies, and considerable park and recreation improvements.

Flint put the budget together in a way that provides the enhancements with no increase in the property tax and only slight increases in other assessments.

Unlike most cities, the rates and amounts that property owners pay in some cases depend on where the property is located.

Flint proposes keeping the citywide property rate at $1.52 for each $1,000 of assessed value for the sixth consecutive year. At that rate, the owner of a house or condo unit assessed at $200,000 who takes the standard $25,000 homestead exemption would pay the city $266 for the year.

Property taxes will provide the city with $7.1 million, which is 29 percent of the $24.1 million that Flint plans to spend in the general fund. The fund pays for most routine expenses, such as emergency medical services, the city attorney, parks and recreation and citywide law enforcement services.

Money for the remaining 71 percent of the general fund comes from the franchise fees on electric, telephone and cable bills. It also comes from the city's share of the state's alcohol, cigarette, sales and other taxes, from building permit fees and other sources.

The amount Flint hopes to collect is $746,000 more than the city is spending this year.

How can he spend more while keeping the tax rate the same? Mostly because more property will be taxed during the coming fiscal year, and that means more money coming into the fund.

The total value of taxable property in all of Weston for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 is $4.6 billion, which is 20 percent more than in the past year. Most of the increase, about 55 percent, comes from new development, with 45 percent stemming from higher property assessments.

Assessments that aren't citywide pay for services in the Bonaventure and Indian Trace development districts.

The budget proposal is available in City Hall. Although it affects every property owner, few ever look at it before it is adopted, waiting until afterward to complain.

To formally complain, or to formally praise the city, mark your calendar for Sept. 3 and Sept. 17, when the City Commission will conduct the two state-required public hearings on the budget.

Both hearings will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Weston Community Center, 20200 Saddle Club Road. After hearing from the public at the first hearing, the commission will tentatively approve a budget and tax rate and permanently adopt some assessments. Two weeks later, after the second hearing, it will adopt a budget along with the remaining assessments.

Here are highlights of some of the additional expenses that Flint proposes in the $24 million general fund:

Two deputy sheriffs: One deputy would serve as a commercial vehicle enforcement officer. Flint said the officer would enforce traffic laws for trucks and other commercial vehicles on U.S. 27 in hopes of reducing accidents. Residents would benefit because with fewer accidents, the deputy who patrols the western area of the city could spend more time in residential areas and fire-rescue crews wouldn't be needed so they would be more readily available elsewhere in Weston, he said.

The position would pay for itself with the traffic fines it generates, he added.

The second deputy, who wouldn't be hired until next year, would be assigned to Vista Park on Bonaventure Boulevard near Griffin Road.

Under Flint's proposal, the cost of police services would increase from $4.4 million to $4.9 million. Some of the increase would be for a built-in 5 percent annual increase in the city's contract with the Broward Sheriff's Office. Another increase is the first full-year cost of six additional deputies hired late in the current fiscal year so they can be ready for this month's opening of Cypress Bay High School.

Parks and recreation: Flint proposes adding two employees at the end of the year to prepare for the opening next year of Vista Park. The recreation supervisor and maintenance manager would be hired by Severn Trent Environmental Services, the firm that provides the city with park and recreation services.

Other additional expenses include upgrading play equipment at Windmill Ranch, Country Isles and Peace Mound parks and providing matching funds for grants to improve the Broward County Regional Park at Weston and Gator Run Park.